To the editor:
In 1996, Susan Collins vowed she’d serve no more than two terms, then return to Maine and let someone else take her place. She is now running for her fifth term.
This past spring, she told a reporter she was baffled by the response of her constituents; she insisted she hadn’t changed: “I am doing exactly the same thing I’ve always done,” she said.
No, Senator, you’re not.
The senator will attend wealthy fundraisers, but she refuses constituent requests to host or appear at Town Hall meetings in Maine. Not one in 20 years.
Over the past decade, the senator rarely, if ever, opposed leader Mitch McConnell since the 2009 stimulus debate. The senator voted for the recovery act, but only after gutting $870 million for pandemic preparations. The cost? 215,000 dead Americans from a pandemic of epic proportions, millions unemployed, and trillions in national debt.
The senator voted for a tax reform bill that included the biggest cut to the corporate tax rate and a substantial cut for wealthy Americans, to the tune of over $1 trillion. And yet, seven times, she voted against protecting pre-existing conditions. The senator’s reliance on corporate donations has been stated at over 61 percent.
The senator initially opposed the candidacy of Donald Trump in 2016, but she’s turned into a dependable ally, with no criticism, and she votes with him on all key issues.
How has she opposed Donald Trump? I’ll quote the senator: “Concerned.” “Troubled.” “The president has been impeached. That’s a pretty big lesson.” “A lot he’s done right.”
Sen. Collins said she voted in Maine’s primary, but refused to say if she cast her ballot for Trump. Trump was the only candidate on the Republican primary ballot. On the other hand, Trump has endorsed Collins in Maine’s 2020 Senate race.
The senator has changed. Thank you for your public service, Senator Collins, but you’ve become lost now and Maine needs better at this critical time.
John F. Orlando
Limestone
